And so, the season of the courgette is upon us. Ten days in and five kilos of them harvested already. Friends and neighbours are starting to avoid me in the street because they know I’ll try and force cucurbits on them. Fry them, griddle them, spiralize them, stuff them…do what you like with them, you’re still fighting a losing battle.

The school Summer Fair last weekend seemed like a good opportunity to offload some more courgettes, albeit in disguise as baked goods. In this recipe, using Royal Bassett Blue, sent to me by Pong Cheese for review, they are baked with cheese and spring onions for a savoury muffin. Serve warm, with butter.

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins)

450g self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 medium courgette, grated

3 spring onions, finely chopped

Salt and black pepper

150g Royal Basset Blue, most of the rind removed, grated or chopped

350ml milk

2 eggs, beaten

150ml olive oil

Pre-heat the oven to 180c/160 fan-assisted/Gas Mark 4 and oil a muffin tin. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the grated courgette, spring onions and two-thirds of the cheese, and season well. Mix together to combine.

In another bowl, beat together the milk, eggs and olive oil. Fold this wet mixture into the dry mixture until combined into a thick batter. Spoon into the muffin tin.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for ten minutes then remove and sprinkle the remaining cheese on the top. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown.

Our courgettes are barely getting going, picked the first one yesterday, but Him Outdoors is already surveying them gloomily. Not his favourite but I bet he’d love these muffins. Which is fortunate as I have a piece of Stilton the size of a house brick sitting in the fridge. Lx

Would he eat them made into fritter-type things? Smallest child, as you know, will not countenance any sort of veg but even he can be persuaded by ‘zucchini fries’ (as the local meatball emporium markets them).